Combination suspenders and belt



T. H. McQUINN; COMBINATION SUSPENDERS AND BELT. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 4. I9I9.

1,341,568. Patented May25,1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

COMBINATION SUSPENDERS AND BELT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 25, 1920.

Application filed June 4, 1919. Serial No. 301,603.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS HORACE Mo- QUINN, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and a resident of the city of Hawthorn, a suburb of the city of Melbourne, in the county of Bourke, State of Victoria, Commonwealth of Australia, (whose post-oiiice address is 1411 Burwood road, in the said city of Hawthorn,) have invented certain new and useful Improvements in and Relating to Combination Suspenders and Belts, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an article of personal wearing apparel capable of being used as suspenders to be worn over the shoulders or as a belt to be worn around the waist.

It has previously been proposed to provide the shoulder straps of suspenders with detachable suspender ends so that by removing said suspender ends the article may be used as a belt. This construction is, however, objectionable as the detached sus pender ends are liable to become lost thus rendering the article practically useless.

The object of the present invention is to provide a combination SUSPGIIClGI and belt in which the suspender ends may be extended in the usual manner when the article is to be used as a pair of suspenders but when used as a belt the Suspender ends instead of being removed are turned back upon the shoulder straps and held in such turned-back position out of the way and out of view,so that the article may be readily converted into a belt, and when worn in either form presents a becoming appearance and does not suggestthat it is anything but the article it represents at the time. Means are provided for connecting the inner or rear ends of the two shoulder straps so that they may be readily moved into the usual convergent position when used. as a suspender or may be turned end to end and into alinement, so that they may be passed around the waist when the article is to be used as a belt. Means are also provided for attaching the front and rear suspender ends to the shoulder straps in such a manner that they may be readily turned back against the shoulder straps out of view and without removal, and held in such position while the article is being used as a belt. In the preferred form of the invention, the

connecting members, by which the front suspender ends are attached to the shoulder straps, are adapted to form a clasp for uniting the two front ends or portions of the shoulder straps when worn as a belt. Furthermore, the usual. means for adjusting the length of the shoulder straps in suspenders permits the article to be adjusted in length to suit the waists of different wearers.

It will be evident from the following that the article may be variously modified in construction without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, which form a part of this specification I Figure 1 is an exterior view of the invention in its preferred form and showing the shoulder straps in the convergent position they assume when the article is used as suspenders. In the right hand half of the figure the tab ends are extended for use as suspenders, while in the left hand half of the figure the brace ends are turned back upon the shoulder straps into the position tghiey assume when the article is used as a Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section on line A-A of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the'inner or rear ends of the shoulder straps showing the two rear tab ends stowed within the pockets, one of which is shown open and the other closed.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the outer or front portion of one of the shoulder straps showing its two front tab ends stowed inside the looped or backturned portion of the shoulder strap and held therein by a keeper. Part of the shoulder strap is broken away for convenience of illustration.

Fig. 5 is adetail view showing the front connecting members interengaged to form a clasp for the front ends of the shoulder straps when used as a belt.

Fig. 6 shows a modification in which a double ring is employed to unite the inner or rear ends of the shoulder straps.

Fig. 7 shows a further modification in which a double ring is employed and the pockets for holding the rear tab ends are dispensed with.

In the drawings, 2 indicates the shoulder straps which may be of elastic, webbing or any other suitable material. The numeral 3 indicates the rear extremities of the shoulder straps, and 4 the front extremities thereof which are attached to adjusting clips 6 of the usual type. The front portions of the shoulder straps are looped or turned back upon themselves in the usual manner as seen in Figs. 2 and 1, so that the length of the shoulder straps may be adjusted through the medium of the clips 6 In the form of the invention seen in Fig. 1, therear ends of the shoulder straps are PIOX iClGCl with pockets 7 to accommodate the rear tab ends. Each of these pockets may be formed as shown by a leather or other strip which is bent back upon itself at its middle to form a return bend or loop 8. The two extremities 9 of said strip may be then stitched as at 11 to the rear extremities 3 of the shoulder straps. The pockets 7 are then closed on one side by inner longitudinal stitches 12 the other side of the pockets being open for thegreater part of.

their length to admit the introduction of the rear tab ends. The open outer sides of the pockets may be closed for a short distance by outer longitudinal stitches 13 so that when tl e brace .end is. placed within the pocket, said stitches will assistto retain it in position as seen in dotted lines to theleft of Fig. 1. Preferably, the open sides of the pockets are also provided with a dome or other fastener or fasteners 14: by which the two outer edges of the pocket are held securely together in closed position.

Uniting the rear ends of the two shoulder straps is a rear connecting member or link which is preferably in the form of\a metallic ring 16. This ring passes through the return bends or loops 8 of the pieces forming the pockets7, so that the shoulder straps are free to move around said ring. Also mounted on said rear connecting member or ring 16 are the inner ends of rear tab ends 17 which have at their outer ends the usual button holes 19 by which they are fastened to the rear trouser buttons. The rear tab ends are alsofree to slide upon the ring 16 so that they may be readily passed into the pockets 7. -The front ends or portions of the shoulder straps are provided with front connecting members-or links which are preferably in the form seen in Fig. 1, comprising an inner elongated eyelet 22 having an inner bridge piece 20 around w'hich passes the.

looped or back-turned front portion ofthe shoulder strap as clearly seen in Fig. 2. Communicating with the inner eyelet 22 by a restricted neck 24 is an outer integral eyelet 23 having an outerbridge piece 25. Slid ably mounted upon said front connecting members are front tab ends 26 having button holes 27 for attachment to thefront trouser buttons.

Surrounding the back-turned front portion of each shoulder strap is a loop or keeper 28 by which the front tab ends are re tained in their turned-back or folded position when the article is in use as a belt. Instead of said keepers, buttons or other means may obviously be provided for the same purpose. Instead of 'so accommodatlng the front tab ends, pockets similar to those at the rear may be provided at the front of the shoulder straps.

It will be seen from the foregoing that to convert the article seen in Fig. 1 from a Suspender to a belt it is merely necessary to slide the rear brace ends around the ring'16 and tuck them into the pockets 7 which are then closed by the dome fasteners 14. The front tab ends are turned back upon the shoulder straps by sliding them around the front connecting members past the restricted neck 24, and on to the inner bridge piece 20 of the inner eyelet as seen to the left of Fig. 1. The front tab ends are thus disposed out of sight within the loops formed by the back-turned portions of the shoulder straps as seen to the left of Fig. 2 where they are retained in'position bythe keepers 28 or other retainers. By merely moving the shoulder straps around the rear connecting member 16 until they are disposed end to end and in horizontal -aline1nent, they may bepassed around the waist ofxthe wearer and the front ends of the belt thus formed united by clasping the front connecting members together'as seen in. Fig. 5. It will be obvious that by moving the ad justing clips 6 along the shoulder straps they may be lengthened or sho'rtenedto suit different wearers either when used as a pair of suspenders or as a-belt. e

In the modification seen in Fig. 6, the rear connecting member is in the form of a double ring comprising an inner ri'ng29 and an outer ring 31, the two rings being secured together. The pieces forming the pockets 7 being adapted to slide upon the inner ring while the rear tab ends are separately mountedupon' the outer ring upon which they may readily slide into. or out of the pockets.

In Fig. 7 asimilar double'ringis em-. ployed, theshoulder straps being attached to the outer ring 31 while the rear tab ends arev attached to the inneriring 29.1 By such means the pockets -7- may be entirely dispensed with,.the rear tab ends being merely turned back against the inner surface of the shoulder straps as shown tothe right of Fig. 7, and held in such position eitherby keepers 32 or by any other suitable means, such. for instance, as dome fasteners attached to'the'tab ends and the inner face of the shoulder straps, or by buttons attached to said inner surface of the shoulder straps and adapted to pass through the button holes 19. i 1

Having now described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A combination suspender and belt comprising shoulder straps, a rear connecting member uniting the rea r ends of said shoulder straps whereby they are permitted to be removed into a convergent position for use as a suspender or into alinement for use as a belt, rear tab ends loosely and independently mounted on said member, and a pocket formed in the rear end of each shoulder strap to wholly receive the adjacent tab end when the article is in use as a belt.

2. A combination suspender and belt com prising shoulder straps, pockets at the rear ends of said shoulder straps, a rear connecting member uniting said pockets to permit the shoulder straps to be moved into a convergent position to pass over the shoulders or into alinement to pass around the waist, and rear tab ends slidably mounted on said rear connecting member and adapted to be passed into said pockets without disconnection from said rear connecting member when the article is used as a belt.

3. A combination suspender and belt comprisin shoulder straps which are adapted to pass either over the shoulders or around the waist of the wearer, rear brace ends movably connected to said shoulder straps and pockets formed at the rear ends of the shoulder straps to accommodate said rear tab ends when the article is used as a belt, said pockets being closed along one side and open 011 the other side to permit the entrance of saidtab ends, and fasteners for closing the open sides of the pockets.

a. A combination suspender and belt comprising shoulder straps, pockets formed from strips of material which are turned back upon themselves at the middle to form a return bend or loop, the extremities of said strips being attached to the rear extremities of the shoulder straps, a ring passing through said return bends and thus uniting the shoulder straps, and rear tab ends slidably mounted upon said ring and adapted to pass into said pockets without disconnection from said ring when the article is used as a belt.

5. A combination suspender and belt comprising shoulder straps, a rear connecting member uniting the rear ends of said shoulder straps whereby the shoulder straps may be moved into a convergent position to pass over the shoulders or into alinement to pass around the waist, front connecting members attached to the front portions of said shoulder straps, front and rear tab ends attached respectively to said front and rear connecting members in such a manner that the tab ends may be turned back upon the shoulder straps When the article is used as a belt, and front connecting members serving as belt end connectors.

In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature.

T. H. MGQUINN.

Witness:

CnoIL McPLAsTInR. 

